News

Begg to target black type with Cabernet

23rd Jan 2012

Racenet - Nic Ashman - Saturday, 21 January 2012

Grahame Begg said Cabernet was "definitely a black type horse” after the mare produced a cracking turn of foot to upstage her rivals in the Blackwoods New Catalogue 2012 Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill on Saturday.

The five-year-old daughter of Al Maher was on the seven-day back-up after finishing second as favourite over 1400 metres at Rosehill last Saturday.

"The race wasn’t run to suit last weekend. They came home in 33.40 seconds, who knows what she ran,” Begg said.

Winning jockey Brenton Avdulla, who has now been on board for four of the mare’s five wins, positioned Cabernet in the second half of the field along the rail.

The Gary Portelli-trained O’Crikey led the field with race favourite Key West sitting on his outside and Parthian behind him in the box seat.

O’Crikey sprinted at the 700 metres. Key West stuck with him while Parthian had the perfect drop on the pair.

Key West took over from O’Crikey but just as he did, Parthian got the split between the leaders and looked set for victory until Cabernet swooped late to score a soft victory.

"She’s got a great finishing burst. She just needs some pace on,” Begg said.

"She’ll win a black type race for sure. She’s won at every metro track in Sydney.

Begg was full of praise for Avdulla, who brought up a double with Cabernet’s win over Parthian and Mr Unforgettable.

"He rides her so well. You have to be patient on her and trust her turn of foot,” Begg said.

"I think a race like the Wiggle would be a good target for her.”

The Listed Wiggle Stakes over 1400 metres is scheduled to be run at Warwick Farm on March 10.

Avdulla said posting a winning double couldn’t have come at a better time and said he was confident of Cabernet’s chances when the mare tracked into the race so well.

"My life hasn’t been the best over the past few weeks and it’s nice to get a double,” Avdulla said.

"I was laughing to myself when I got to within 1-1/2 lengths of them and I hadn’t even moved.”